John of Saxony
Brother and successor of Frederick the Wise as elector of Saxony. He led the protest at Speyer in 1529, and his name stands first under the Augsburg Confession.
John was the brother of the elector Frederick the Wise. When Frederick died in May 1525, Martin Luther wrote to John as the new elector, on whom, he said, the misfortune fell in perilous times (Luther, Letters, to Elector John, 15 May 1525).
He attended the diet of Speyer in 1526 (Spalatin, Diary 11 August 1526 (Arber, pp. 25–26)). At the diet of 1529 the protest against the majority was made in his name first: it recalls that “we, Duke John, Elector of Saxony” had proposed a compromise, and declares the majority’s resolution not binding (Protestation of Speyer protest (Kidd no. 107a, pp. 243–244)). His is the first signature under the confession presented at Augsburg in 1530 (Augsburg Confession conclusion, signatures). See the Protestation at Speyer and the Augsburg Confession.
In the timeline
- 19 April 1529, firm dateThe Protestation at Speyer
At the diet of Speyer in April 1529 the majority revokes the latitude that the diet of 1526 had left to each ruler in religion. A group of princes and fourteen cities enter a formal protest, holding that in matters of salvation each must answer to God for himself.